The Brownwood Lions shrugged off a slow start and first-quarter deficit by scoring the final five touchdowns in Friday night’s 42-14 victory over the Marble Falls Mustangs at Gordon Wood Stadium in the regular season finale, which secured the program’s 16th consecutive postseason trip and 51st overall.
The Lions (5-4, 2-2), who will be the third playoff seed from District 4-4A Division I, also overcame a second straight three-turnover performance by producing a season-high 311 rushing yards behind a pair of 100-plus yard backs, and three ball carriers that combined to score six touchdowns.
Defensively, Brownwood surrendered a 91-yard scoring drive to Marble Falls (2-8, 0-4) in the opening quarter, but the Mustangs mustered just 59 yards of total offense the rest of the contest and finished with 150 yards.
“It was Jekyll and Hyde and we have to quit doing that,” Lions seventh-year head coach Sammy Burnett said of his team’s performance after the game. “The first half we stepped all over ourselves offensively. We held them to 7 points defensively and they scored 7 on a pick six. The second half we put it together, started to control the line of scrimmage, started working as a team and put a lot of points on the board, so I’m extremely proud of the way our kids finished the second half.”
Next week, the Lions will face the District 3 runner-up Big Spring Steers (5-5) – who defeated the Pecos Eagles, 28-21, in a battle for second and third place in their league in the regular season finale – Friday Nov. 15 at a time to be determined at San Angelo ISD Stadium in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
“We know Big Spring, we don’t fear Big Spring but we respect them,” Burnett said of the Steers, who the Lions defeated the previous two seasons in district competition, 56-7 and 41-10. “We’ll do what we have to do to prepare for them in a short time. We have nothing on them right now so we have a lot of work to do. We’ll have to break down five or six films tomorrow so we have our work cut out for us but we’ll have a good game plan come Monday.”
In the win over Marble Falls, the Lion offensive front of Weston Wolf, Ian Barrera, Isaiah Rosas, Logan Flores and Aidan Packhesier paved the way for Matthew Rodriguez to rush for 132 yards and one touchdown, while Levi Pearson tacked on 108 yards and two more scores.
“The offensive line sets the tone, they created the holes for them to run through, and I thought they did a great job,” Burnett said. “We did have two turnovers that stopped some drives for us, and we have to fix that, but both those kids ran extremely hard for us, were patient and we got surge, which was big.”
Noah Gonzalez came in as the wildcat quarterback and ran the ball three times, reaching the end zone on each carry for a total of 12 yards, and also competed both of his pass attempts to Raven Prado, who finished as the leading Brownwood receiver with those grabs for 35 yards.
“It’s a good formation for us and if we simply execute we have enough plays in it that we can keep you off balance in what we do,” Burnett said of the wildcat. “We run the jet sweep well out of it, the counter back to the weak side well, and run the lead well. Noah did a good job of operating that offense, and it can be difficult.”
Brownwood generated a total of 424 yards of total offense by the end of the night, starting with 67 on the initial series of the contest as the Lions needed just six plays to travel that distance. Rodriguez scored on an 11-yard carry and Eli Valenciano added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
“It feels like I’m a big part of the team now,” said Rodriguez, who started the season on the JV. “It was a good positive for our team to get up early. I thought I did really well today, but the O-line did amazing.”
Marble Falls countered with a 91-yard, eight-play scoring drive to even the score at 7 just 3:03 later. Mustang quarterback Colton Minor rushed for 46 of his team-high 66 yards on the scoring drive, and also completed a 20-yard pass to Joaquin Aguilar, who later scored on a 24-yard run to knot the score.
“That big drive, we had a couple of missed tackles, but after we figured that all out we had a really, really good night on defense,” Gonzalez said in regard to the defense’s struggles on the touchdown march.
Then, on Brownwood’s ensuing drive, Jackson Trudeau stepped in front of a Judson Coalson pass intended for Aaron Edmonds parallel to the line of scrimmage and returned the interception 35 yards for a Marble Falls touchdown and 14-7 deficit for the Lions with 5:17 left in the opening quarter.
Marble Falls then attempted an onside kick that didn’t travel the necessary 10 yards, and Brownwood took over at the Mustang 42. Following runs of 14 yards by Coalson and 18 and 20 yards by Pearson, the final touches came on a 4-yard plunge by Pearson to even the score at 14 with 3:41 to go in the first period.
The Lions limited Marble Falls to one first down on its next drive before punting, as Devin Eanes returned the boot 23 yards to the Mustang 30.
Three plays later, following a 20-yard rumble by Rodriguez, Gonzalez scored the first of his three touchdowns out of the wildcat from 6 yards out, pushing the Lions back in front for good, 21-14.
“I didn’t think I was going to play that much on offense because we have amazing backs in Matthew and Levi,” Gonzalez said “I didn’t think I was going to touch the ball, but when they called the formation I knew I had to go score for the team. We had speed, we had power, we had everything tonight. The running back room is amazing and I love it.”
Leading 21-14 at halftime, the Lions marched 63 yards in 12 plays and 5:43 as Gonzalez scored again on a 1-yard plunge to give Brownwood some breathing, 28-14, with 6:18 left in the third period.
After forcing one of eight Marble Falls punts of the next possession, Brownwood took over at the Mustang 39. An eight-play, 61-yard march followed for the Lions that ended a 5-yard scoring carry by Gonzalez, boosting the lead to 35-14.
The Lions forced their lone takeaway of the game on Marble Falls’ next possession as Weston Wolf pounced on a fumble at the Brownwood 40 to thwart a threat.
“Once I got it in my hands I knew I wasn’t letting anyone else have it,” said Wolf, who also helped man the offensive line. Regarding the battle in the trenches, Wolf added, “There were a couple of times tonight where we let some guys get through but for the most part we held our own. We were physical off the ball and driving them back no matter what every play.”
Leading 35-14 heading into the fourth quarter, Brownwood tacked on one final touchdown with 6:22 remaining as Pearson capped a six-play, 83-yard journey with a 23-yard touchdown for the final 28-point margin. Rodriguez also contributed a 20-yard run on the drive where he dragged multiple Marble Falls defenders across midfield.
“I feel like I’m a big guy, a little shifty, too, and sometimes they’re waiting back on me so I just go and hit them,” Rodriguez said.
With the postseason now upon the Lions, Burnett is hopeful Friday’s performance serves as a catalyst for Brownwood’s play in the postseason.
“They’ve fought hard all year, I still don’t think we’ve reached our full potential but what a great time it would be to do so,” Burnett said. “If they do, they can go as far as they want to go. All in all we did what we had to do to reach the playoffs, now we’re chasing gold balls.”
***
Brownwood 42, Marble Falls 14
SCORE BY QUARTERS
| Marble Falls | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – 14 |
| Brownwood | 14 | 7 | 14 | 7 | – 42 |
***
SCORING SUMMARY
B: Matthew Rodriguez 11 run (Eli Valenciano kick), 8:40, 1st
M: Joaquin Aguilar 24 run (Brandon Guevara kick), 5:37, 1st
M: Jackson Trudeau 35 interception return (Guevara kick), 5:17, 1st
B: Levi Pearson 4 run (Valenciano kick), 3:41, 1st
B: Noah Gonzalez 6 run (Valenciano kick), 11:55, 2nd
B: Gonzalez 1 run (Valenciano kick), 6:18, 3rd
B: Gonzalez 5 run (Valenciano kick), 0:56, 3rd
B: Pearson 23 run (Valenciano kick), 6:22, 4th
***
| TEAM STATS | Marble Falls | Brownwood |
| First Downs | 6 | 26 |
| Total Offense | 150 | 424 |
| Rushes-Yards | 29-110 | 45-311 |
| Passing Yards | 40 | 113 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 5-12-0 | 10-16-1 |
| Fumbles Lost | 1 | 2 |
| Penalties-Yards | 5-26 | 3-25 |
| Punts-Average | 8-31.2 | 1-25.0 |
***
PLAYER STATS
RUSHING: M – Colton Minor 14-66; Joaquin Aguilar 9-33, TD; Doak Timmerman 4-11; Arnullo Salazar 2-0. B – Matthew Rodriguez 16-132, TD; Levi Pearson 11-108, 2 TDs; Judson Coalson 10-33; Kaleb Grabast 5-26; Noah Gonzalez 3-12, 3 TDs.
PASSING: M – Minor 3-9-0-28; Timmerman 2-2-0-12; Kole Becker 0-1-0-0. B – Coalson 8-14-1-78; Gonzalez 2-2-0-35.
RECEIVING: M – Noah Lyon 3-18; Aguilar 1-20; Becker 1-2.. B – Raven Prado 2-35; Grant Gray 2-32; Pearson 2-16; Rodriguez 1-14; Carson Noe 1-7; Aaron Edmonds 1-5; Braeden Stacks 1-4.
KICKING: B – Eli Valenciano 0 of 0 FGs. 6 of 6 PATs.
Eli Valenciano – 1 punt for 25 yards, 25.0 average – 0 inside 20.